19th century pictures no one smiled

[TXNGL]

Having one's portrait (photo) taken was serious business back in the 19th century. It was very expensive. I have a few photos of ancestors on my mother's side, that those photos were taken in the first place is amazing because they had so very little. Look at painted portraits of people from that time and and earlier. Do you see people with giant grins? No.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Nerys52SoSilver

Everyone looks extremely austere even the children. Some even look sad I find.

Solemnity came from the process of portraiture. Back when the only likeness of someone was a painting, the process was far too slow for a person to hold a wide smile that showed the teeth. Women, especially girls, where shown with a sweet small closed-mouth smile, but men were supposed to look dignified and solemn.

That goes back a very long way. We still talk about Mona Lisa, but her smile at the time was a convention in portrait painting.

But that's not universally true. People who could afford a painted portrait could get it painted with any expression they wanted on their face as part of the deal, and many merry paintings exist that show open mouths and wide grins.

Photography imitated art. Still does. We smile only because we have all been taught to do so. It's a newer convention, but in countries where a person's photograph is still uncommon, they don't smile so much. Here, and in much of the world, we're taught as small kids to say cheese when the school photographer comes around, but even then, not every kid smiles, and neither do all adults.

Some folks are never comfortable in front of a camera, and that hasn't changed at all since photography was invented.